Buzzer-beater spills Penguins in Milwaukee

Milwaukee’s Jamie Reit picked up a loose ball and buried a 15-footer at the buzzer to give the Panthers a 62-61 win over the Youngstown State women’s basketball team on Saturday at the Klotsche Center.

In a back-and-forth game in which Milwaukee scored nine points on buzzer-beaters in the final 10-plus minutes, the Penguins got gut-wrenching bad luck at the worst time.

YSU led 61-60 and broke up Milwaukee’s primary option in the final sequence by double-teaming Steph Kostowicz.

Kostowicz’s pass out of traffic went to Jenny Lindner, who had the ball tipped away initially and once again after she got possession. The ball bounced sideways to Reit, who was not part of the original play, and she got the winning shot off with less than a second remaining.

Youngstown State’s Sarah Cash scored a game and season-high 28 points, and her bucket with 3:28 left gave the Penguins a 61-55 lead. That was YSU’s eighth straight made field-goal attempt, but the Penguins did not score again.

Indiya Benjamin scored 16 points, including nine straight at one point for YSU in the fourth period.

Kostowicz finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Lindner had 15 points and nine rebounds for Milwaukee.

Lindner made a 3 at the 1:48 mark, and Kostowicz sank two free throws with 49 seconds left for Milwaukee’s 12th and 13th points of the game following offensive rebounds to make the score 61-60.